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Islamic JurisprudenceWed, 13 Dec 2017 10:21:04 +0000en-UShourly1Twelver Shiism: Unity and Diversity in the Life of Islam, 632 to 1722http://ijtihadnet.com/twelver-shiism-unity-diversity-life-islam-632-1722/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/twelver-shiism-unity-diversity-life-islam-632-1722/#respondMon, 11 Dec 2017 05:17:10 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=10195The book “Twelver Shiism” provides a historical account of the development of this sect, from the conflicts over the successors of the Prophet Muhammad following his death in 632 to the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1722...

]]>The book “Twelver Shiism” provides a historical account of the development of this sect, from the conflicts over the successors of the Prophet Muhammad following his death in 632 to the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1722.

The writer appeals to a Western, nonspecialist audience that will leave the reader with an understanding of the progression of Twelver Shi‘ism as its followers learned to cope with the political and religious landscape that it encountered. The book pays special attention to the internal and external pressures that Twelvers faced, the diversity of the faith throughout its first millennium of existence, the development of the divide between religious scholars and lay believers, and the wide geographic distribution of pockets of Twelvers from Asia through the Middle East.

As many as 40 different Shi`i groups existed in the 9th and 10th centuries yet only 3 forms have survived. Why is Twelver Shi`ism one of them?

As the established faith in modern Iran, the majority faith in Iraq and areas in the Gulf and with its adherents forming sizeable minorities elsewhere in the region, Twelver Shi’ism is arguably the most successful branch of Shi’ism. Andrew J. Newman chronicles the progression of Twelver Shiism, exploring the numerous external challenges and internal disagreements that marked the lives of believers in pockets across the Middle East to the early 18th century. During this time, from the 13th to the 15th century especially, with scholarly activity and the availability of earlier key texts of the faith limited, the region’s many millenarian doctrines and movements threatened its demise. Only by the late 17th century was Twelver Shiism’s survival assured, both in Iran and elsewhere in the region.

About the Author

Andrew Newman is Professor of Islamic Studies and Persian at the University of Edinburgh. He is author of Safavid Iran: Rebirth of a Persian Empire (2006) and The Formative Period of Shi’i Law: Hadith as Discourse Between Qum and Baghdad (2000) and editor of Society and Culture in the Early Modern Middle East, Studies on Iran in the Safavid Period (2003).

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Shiism fragmented: the faith and the faithful from the 7th to the 9th century
2. Bereft of a leader: the early traditionists and the beginnings of doctrine and practice
3. The challenge of ‘the uncertainty’
4. Majority and minority: rationalism on the defensive in the later Buyid period
5. Betwixt and between: the Twelvers and the Turks
6. The Mongol and Ilkhanid periods: the rise and limits of the al-Hilla school of al-Hilla
7. The severest of challenges
8. Shiism in the 16th century: the limits of power (and influence)
9. The past rediscovered and the future assured: Shiism in the 17th century
Epilogue
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Bibliographic Information

Title: Twelver Shiism: Unity and Diversity in the Life of Islam, 632 to 1722

]]>http://ijtihadnet.com/twelver-shiism-unity-diversity-life-islam-632-1722/feed/0God in the Courtroom: The Transformation of Courtroom Oath & Perjury between Islamic & Franco-Egyptian Lawhttp://ijtihadnet.com/god-courtroom-transformation-courtroom-oath-perjury-islamic-franco-egyptian-law/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/god-courtroom-transformation-courtroom-oath-perjury-islamic-franco-egyptian-law/#respondSat, 09 Dec 2017 06:15:36 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=10166In "God in the Courtroom" Guy Bechor investigates the concept of making God a witness in legal proceedings, examining to what extent the courtroom oath in Egyptian civil law is "Islamic." Comprised of an introduction and five chapters, the book addresses the oath from a philosophical, historical, and comparative perspective, from the perspective of...

]]>In “God in the Courtroom” Guy Bechor investigates the concept of making God a witness in legal proceedings, examining to what extent the courtroom oath in Egyptian civil law is “Islamic.” Comprised of an introduction and five chapters, the book addresses the oath from a philosophical, historical, and comparative perspective, from the perspective of Islamic legal doctrine, as “Franco-Egyptian law,” and finally, through a comparison between Egyptian law and fiqh.

This volume compares the courtroom oaths of both Islamic and modern Egyptian legal systems, blending elements of legal history, comparative law, theology, philosophy and culture. Until now, academic research has paid little attention to the subject of the courtroom oath in the Islamic or Egyptian legal systems. As such, it might appear as if modern legislation in the Arab world on this subject forms the natural continuation of Islamic law, or that there are no significant differences between these two legal approaches. This unique study seeks to rectify this impression by examining the institution of the courtroom oath on the basis of three criteria: Islamic law, which discusses the oath in the context of the judicial proceeding, including debate between different schools and interpreters; the sources and approach of Arab law on this subject; and, lastly, the core of this book – a detailed legal comparison between the Islamic oath and the Arab oath. In itself, this is a study in legal history examining the origins, character, sources,and doctrines of the oath in Arab law and at the same time, it is a comparative study of Islamic and contemporary Arab law in this field.

About the Author

Guy Bechor, LL.B. MA, Ph.D, is the head of the Middle Eastern Studies Division, Lauder School of Government, Strategy and Diplomacy, The Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel, and a visiting fellow at the School of Law, the Islamic Legal Studies Program, Harvard University. He is the author of The Sanhuri Code, and the Emergence of Modern Arab Civil Law (1932 to 1949) (Brill, 2007).

Table of Contents

Introduction

Mutual Functionality between Legal History and Comparative Law

Egyption law and its Arab Weight

Methodology and the art of borrowing

Types of courtroom oaths

The courtroom oath in Islamic law, theory and practice

Islamic law and methodology: legal history and historical law

Intimate involvement of God

The Islamic coutroom oath as a source of legal determination

The types and modalities of Islamic oath

The technique of the courtroom oath

The positions of the schools on the subject of the courtroom oath: Malikites versus Hanafities

The illusive mental dimension of the Islamic courtroom oath

The scope of the courtroom oath: issues that may form

A confrontation between forms of proof and legal determination: the oath versus Bayyinas

The defendant and the courtroom oath

The rerendering of the oath and the burden of proof

The paradox of mutual plaintiffs and defendants (tahaluf)

Cases in which the plaintiff takes the oath: a conceptual challenge for the Hanafites

Judicial discretion and the decisive oath

Can the defendant guide the wording of the oath in his favor?

A religious element in the service of law

The testimonial oath

Special types of oath: curses and qasama

Sui Generis, the Legal History of Courtroom oath

‘Tortura Spiritualis’

Courtroom oath in Egyptian legal history

Reinterpretation and the concerning the decisive oath in Franco-Egyptian law

The oath and ‘Judicial Truth’ as a double narrative

The restriction of the oath due to injury to the component of legal certainty

The Egyptian Courtroom Oath and its Function

The Franco-Egyptian courtroom oath

Research Methodology

The paradox of the courtroom oath

The presentation of courtroom oaths: decisive and complementary

The decisive oath as a Quasi-Contractual Model

The decisive oath as equity

Judicial discretion and the decisive oath

The motif of equality: the oath is granted to both parties

The ritual of the oath and the parties

The balance of threat of the renderer

The legal capacity required for a decisive oath

The oath as a text

Public order, the wild horse, and morality

The oath and the role of God as a default

The rerendering of the oath

The refusal (nukul) to take the decisive oath

The doctrine of the finality of the hearing

The decisive oath outside the ccourtroom

The complementary oath

Hybrid oath: between the decisive oath and the complementary oath

The testimonial oath

Comparative Law-To Oaths, Two Legal Regimes

A current thesis

A charged realm of encounter

The decisive oath and the challenge of the legal rights

The oath between legal time and human time

God as a key player

The approach of comparative justice: involvement or interference?

Legal reasoning and intimidation

The source of authority: the courtroom oath as a social function

Judicial discretion and the oath

The mental foundation of the oath as a subversive element

Ceremony, mysticism and ritual

The oath and the motif of equality

The realm of the oath

The relationship created between the praties to the courtroom oath

Differences in teaching

The complementary oath: from a binary model to a dynamic perspective

Perjury as ideology: the motif of falsehood in the Islamic and Franco-Egyptian oaths

Introduction: the transformation of the perjury in Franco-Egyptian law and the concept of Falsum

A proposed model for examining perjury in Islamic law

Perjury as an institution and a procedure in Egyptian civil law

Perjury versus courtroom oath: complement and contrast

Bibliographic Information

Title: God in the Courtroom: The Transformation of Courtroom Oath and Perjury between Islamic and Franco-Egyptian Law”

]]>http://ijtihadnet.com/god-courtroom-transformation-courtroom-oath-perjury-islamic-franco-egyptian-law/feed/0Islamic unity and happiness by Martyr Mortaza Motahharihttp://ijtihadnet.com/islamic-unity-happiness-martyr-mortaza-motahhari/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/islamic-unity-happiness-martyr-mortaza-motahhari/#respondMon, 04 Dec 2017 10:13:06 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=10097What is meant by Islamic Unity? Does it mean that one religion should be chosen from among its different sects, and the rest be put aside? Or does it mean that what is held in common in all of them should be adopted, and the differences ignored, thus creating a new faith which would not resemble any of...

]]>What is meant by Islamic Unity? Does it mean that one religion should be chosen from among its different sects, and the rest be put aside? Or does it mean that what is held in common in all of them should be adopted, and the differences ignored, thus creating a new faith which would not resemble any of them? Or again, does it mean that Islamic unity has no relationship whatever with the unity of religions, and the meaning of Muslim unity is the union of the followers of various sects against Non-believers in spite of all their religious differences.

Those who are opposed to Muslim unity, in order to give the word «Islamic unity» an illogical and impracticable sense, call it a religious unity to defeat it at the very beginning.

Obviously the purpose of the enlightened and learned men of Islam in coining this phrase is not limiting all the sects to one religion, or adopting the common points and laying aside differences which is neither reasonable, and logical, nor desirable and practicable. Their purpose is the unification of Muslims in one line against their common enemy.

These learned men say that the Muslims have sufficient sources of conformity which could be used as a basis of a solid unity. All Muslims worship the unique God, and believe in the prophethood of the holy Prophet. Their Book is the Qur’an, and the direction of prayers is Kaaba. They perform the rites of pilgrimage together and in the same way, their prayer and fast are similar, their making of a family, their dealings, their bringing up of children and the burial of their dead are all alike. There are no differences between them in these matters except in details.

All Muslims possess a universal perspective; they have a common culture, and share a great and magnificent civilization of long­standing. The unity of perception, culture, record of civilization, perspicacity, religious beliefs, worship and devotion, and social customs and traditions, can easily make a single nation of them and create a great power before which all the world’s great powers may feel humble, especially as this point has been affirmed in the context of Islam.

The book was written by Martyr Ayatollah Mortaza Motahhari and translated by Dr. Alaeddin Pazagadi. Read and download the whole book and the link below:

]]>http://ijtihadnet.com/islamic-unity-happiness-martyr-mortaza-motahhari/feed/0Religious Minorities in Christian, Jewish and Muslim Law (5th – 15th centuries)http://ijtihadnet.com/religious-minorities-christian-jewish-muslim-law-5th-15th-centuries/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/religious-minorities-christian-jewish-muslim-law-5th-15th-centuries/#respondWed, 29 Nov 2017 13:46:51 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=10032The fruit of a sustained and close collaboration between historians, linguists and jurists working on the Christian, Muslim and Jewish societies of the Middle Ages, this book explores the theme of religious coexistence (and the problems it poses) from a resolutely...

]]>The fruit of a sustained and close collaboration between historians, linguists and jurists working on the Christian, Muslim and Jewish societies of the Middle Ages, this book explores the theme of religious coexistence (and the problems it poses) from a resolutely comparative perspective.

The authors concentrate on a key aspect of this coexistence: the legal status attributed to Jews and Muslims in Christendom and to dhimmīs in Islamic lands. What are the similarities and differences, from the point of view of the law, between the indigenous religious minority and the foreigner? What specific treatments and procedures in the courtroom were reserved for plaintiffs, defendants or witnesses belonging to religious minorities? What role did the law play in the segregation of religious groups? In limiting, combating, or on the contrary justifying violence against them? Through these questions, and through the innovative comparative method applied to them, this book offers a fresh new synthesis to these questions and a spur to new research.

Table of Contents

Preface

John Tolan, Introduction

PART I. THE JURIDICAL FRAMEWORK FOR MULTICONFESSIONAL SOCIETES IN THE MIDDLE AGES

]]>http://ijtihadnet.com/religious-minorities-christian-jewish-muslim-law-5th-15th-centuries/feed/0Book: The Good Muslim: Reflections on Classical Islamic Law and Theologyhttp://ijtihadnet.com/book-good-muslim-reflections-classical-islamic-law-theology/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/book-good-muslim-reflections-classical-islamic-law-theology/#respondSat, 25 Nov 2017 15:23:15 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=10000In the book “The Good Muslim: Reflections on Classical Islamic Law and Theology” Mona Siddiqui reflects upon key themes in Islamic law and theology...

]]>In the book “The Good Muslim: Reflections on Classical Islamic Law and Theology” Mona Siddiqui reflects upon key themes in Islamic law and theology.

In this thought-provoking book, Mona Siddiqui reflects upon key themes in Islamic law and theology. These themes, which range through discussions about friendship, divorce, drunkenness, love, slavery and ritual slaughter, offer fascinating insights into Islamic ethics and the way in which arguments developed in medieval juristic discourse. Pre-modern religious works contained a richness of thought, hesitation and speculation on a wide range of topics, which were socially relevant but also presented intellectual challenges to the scholars for whom God’s revelation could be understood in diverse ways. These subjects remain relevant today, for practising Muslims and scholars of Islamic law and religious studies. Mona Siddiqui is an astute and articulate interpreter who relays complex ideas about the Islamic tradition with great clarity. Her book charts her own journey through the classical texts and reflects upon how the principles expounded there have guided her own thinking, teaching and research.

An articulate and thought-provoking book which considers key themes – love, friendship, divorce – and how they were interpreted by medieval scholars

Written by a leading scholar and well-known commentator, the book reflects her personal choices and experiences as a Muslim in today’s world

Intended for students and scholars of theology, history, religious studies and those interested in inter-religious debate

Table of Contents

1. Spoken, intended and problematic divorce in Hanafi Fiqh
2. Between person and property – slavery in Qudūrī’s Mukhtasar
3. Pig, purity and permission in Mālikī slaughter
4. Islamic and other perspectives on evil
5. The language of love in the Qur’ān
6. Virtue and limits in the ethics of friendship
7. Drinking and drunkenness in Ibn Rushd.

Bibliographic Information

Title: The Good Muslim: Reflections on Classical Islamic Law and Theology

]]>http://ijtihadnet.com/book-good-muslim-reflections-classical-islamic-law-theology/feed/0Book: Fiqh According to the Qur’an & Sunnah (Vol. 1)http://ijtihadnet.com/book-fiqh-according-quran-sunnah-vol-1/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/book-fiqh-according-quran-sunnah-vol-1/#respondSat, 18 Nov 2017 15:28:28 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=9497This book illustrates the many facets of our daily life according the Quran and Sunnah. This book is nicely divided into many sections starting with the Book of Purification and ending with the...

]]>This book illustrates the many facets of our daily life according the Quran and Sunnah. This book is nicely divided into many sections starting with the Book of Purification and ending with the Book of Zakah. Each book is further subdivided into chapters which explain a specific topic in detail. Every effort is made so everything in the book is proven by the Quran and Sunnah. More volumes covering additional topics are expected in the future Insha Allah.

Volume 1 covers the following books of Fiqh: Purification, Prayer, Fasting and Zakah.

The complete set, ‘Al-Lubab Fee Fiqh As-Sunnah Wal-Kitab,’ contains all of the books of Islamic Fiqh and its chapters, accompanied by evidence and is presented in a clear and simple manner, in order that they may be understood by the young and the old, without blindly following any of the schools of Jurisprudence, but rather being subject to authentic proofs and following the most authoritative opinions, without fanatical adherence to any particular group. Rather the author agrees with each group when the truth is with them and contradicts them when they veer from that which is correct.

Fiqh is to achieve access to knowledge of that which is unclear through knowledge of that which is proven, so it is more specific than mere knowledge or learning. And fiqh is knowledge of the juristic law. It is said Faquha -A man has acquired understanding and so he has become a Faqeeh (A scholar of Islamic Jurisprudence); and it is said Faqiha – He has understood it, i.e he has attained understanding of it, and it is said Tafaqqaha – he has devoted himself to the acquisition of (Islamic) Knowledge and specialized in it. Fiqh has been a subject of contention among the scholars as well as layman throughout the history of Islam.

]]>http://ijtihadnet.com/book-fiqh-according-quran-sunnah-vol-1/feed/0Book: Islamic Jurisprudence: An International Perspectivehttp://ijtihadnet.com/book-islamic-jurisprudence-international-perspective/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/book-islamic-jurisprudence-international-perspective/#respondThu, 02 Nov 2017 19:50:08 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=9823This book seeks to present information, not at present available in a single work, on the pioneering efforts of Islamic jurists to develop a comprehensive body of human rights, principles and practice, as well as a corpus of...

]]>This book seeks to present information, not at present available in a single work, on the pioneering efforts of Islamic jurists to develop a comprehensive body of human rights, principles and practice, as well as a corpus of international law principles.

Islamic jurisprudence is a much misunderstood system. The misunderstanding is due to lack of information and to centuries of prejudice. This book seeks to present information, not at present available in a single work, on the pioneering efforts of Islamic jurists to develop a comprehensive body of human rights, principles and practice, as well as a corpus of international law principles. The attempt to develop such international law principles long anticipated any similar work in other legal or cultural systems. Human rights doctrine based upon the Qu’ran and the Sunna of the Prophet was expressed in terms which will strike the reader as surprisingly modern. In international law, Islamic treatises anticipated the work of Grotius by eight centuries. It is hoped that this systematic exposition, not attempted before in such detail, will help considerably in reducing misunderstanding and the resulting tensions, as well as being of considerable value to the Islamic world. The work will be of interest not only to lawyers, but also to philosophers, historians, sociologists, political scientists and students of international affairs.

Table of Contents

The Origins of Islamic Law

The Arabic Resurgence of Learning

The Sources of Islamic Law

The Schools of Law

Some Basic Islamic Legal Ideas

Islamic Influences on European Legal Philosophy and Law

Islam and Human Rights

Islamic International Law

The Value of Islamic Jurisprudence to the Non-Islamic World

About the Author

C. G. WEERAMANTRY is Professor of Law at Monash University in Australia and was formerly a Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka. He teaches international law and human rights and has written several works on those subjects and on comparative law.

]]>http://ijtihadnet.com/book-islamic-jurisprudence-international-perspective/feed/0Book: Shari’a and Islamism in Sudan: Conflict, Law and Social Transformationhttp://ijtihadnet.com/book-sharia-islamism-sudan-conflict-law-social-transformation/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/book-sharia-islamism-sudan-conflict-law-social-transformation/#respondSat, 28 Oct 2017 16:12:18 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=9831Using her substantial experience in Sudan, Professor Fluehr-Lobban provides a highly valuable analysis of contemporary Shari‘a in Sudan, going beyond stereotypes to examine the current realities of Shari‘a, how it is implemented and how it has changed over the past two decades...

]]>The Book “Shari’a and Islamism in Sudan” is the first monograph trying to give a comprehensive account of the role of the Sharia in the Sudan since more than a decade.

After the 1989 Islamist coup in Sudan, the National Islamic Front under General Omar al-Bashir and Dr. Hasan Turabi attempted to institutionalise, codify and implement Shari’a law throughout the country. However, by 2005, with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement ending 22 years of civil war, the government agreed to halt its policy of Islamisation in the South. Shari’a and Islamism in Sudan explores how Sudanese society has been transformed by this period of implementation of Islamic Law, and furthermore asks, what are the continuing effects of this policy? And what are the implications of the Peace Agreement for the future of Islamist politics in Sudan and of the country? With data drawn from Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban’s most recent research in the region, this book is a vital and unique examination of the nature of the Sudanese state and society, offering invaluable insight for all those interested in the politics, society, and the future of Sudan and the nature of political Islam.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Shari’a, Islam and Islamism in Sudanese History

Chapter 2: The Ascendance of Islamism, 1983-89

Chapter 3: ‘Be Careful what you ask for’

Chapter 4: Shari’a Courts and Judges in Contemporary Practice

Chapter 5: Demographic Transformation

Chapter 6: Social Transformation

Chapter 7: Comparative cases of Iran, Afghanistan and Nigeria

Chapter 8: Post-Islamism, Future of Shari’a and the Sudanese State.

About the Author

Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban is Professor Emerita of Anthropology and Joint Doctoral Program in Education at Rhode Island College and Adjunct Professor of African Studies at Naval War College. Her research topics cover Islamic law and society, women’s social and legal status in the Muslim world, human rights and cultural relativism, ethics and anthropology and comparative studies in law and society.

Bibliographic Information

Title: Shari’a and Islamism in Sudan: Conflict, Law and Social Transformation

]]>http://ijtihadnet.com/book-sharia-islamism-sudan-conflict-law-social-transformation/feed/0Book: Law, Society and Culture in the Maghrib, 1300–1500http://ijtihadnet.com/book-law-society-culture-maghrib-1300-1500/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/book-law-society-culture-maghrib-1300-1500/#respondThu, 19 Oct 2017 12:25:06 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=9770Focusing on the Maghrib in the period between 1300 and 1500, in this book David Powers analyses the application of Islamic law through the role of the mufti....

]]>The book is a must for anyone who wants to understand how Islamic law functioned in practice after 287/900. The material … is presented in a clear and systematic manner, not only making it accessible for the non-legal mind but also actually engaging the reader in such a way that one awaits the outcome with interest.’ Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

Focusing on the Maghrib in the period between 1300 and 1500, in this book David Powers analyses the application of Islamic law through the role of the mufti.

To unravel the sophistication of the law, he considers six cases which took place in the Marinid period on subjects as diverse as paternity, fornication, water rights, family endowments, the slander of the Prophet and disinheritance. The source for these disputes are fatwas issued by the muftis, which the author uses to situate each case in its historical context and to interpret the principles of Islamic law. In so doing he demonstrates that, contrary to popular stereotypes, muftis were in fact dedicated to reasoned argument, and sensitive to the manner in which law, society and culture interacted. The book represents a groundbreaking approach to a complex field. It will be read by students of Islamic law and those interested in traditional Muslim societies.

Demonstrates how Islamic law was applied in practice in the Maghrib in the period 1300–1500 • Qualifies common misperceptions of the workings of Islamic law, qadis and muftis • Appeal to students and scholars of Islamic law and those interested in traditional Islamic societies

Table of Contents

Introduction;

Kadijustiz or Qadi-justice?

A paternity dispute from fourteenth-century Morocco;

From Almohadism to Malikism: the case of al-Haskuri, the Mocking Jurist, c. 712–16/1312–16;

A riparian dispute in the Middle Atlas mountains, c. 683–824/1285–1421;

]]>http://ijtihadnet.com/book-law-society-culture-maghrib-1300-1500/feed/0Book: Shariʻah Law: An Introduction +PDFhttp://ijtihadnet.com/book-shari%ca%bbah-law-introduction-pdf/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss
http://ijtihadnet.com/book-shari%ca%bbah-law-introduction-pdf/#respondSat, 14 Oct 2017 15:53:56 +0000http://ijtihadnet.com/?p=9514Providing a comprehensive and accessible examination of Shari’ah Law, this well considered introduction examines the sources, characteristic features, and schools of thought of a system often stereotyped for its severity in the West. In a progressive and graduated fashion, Mohammad Hashim Kamali discusses topics ranging from...

]]>Providing a comprehensive and accessible examination of Shari’ah Law, the book examines the sources, characteristic features, and schools of thought of a system often stereotyped for its severity in the West.

Notwithstanding its title of Shariʻah Law: An Introduction this volume provides a progressive and graduated treatment of the Shariʻah. The first three chapters offer an introductory discussion which expounds the sources of Shariʻah, its characteristic features, as well as its leading schools and madhhabs. The succeeding four chapters on ikhtilaf (juristic disagreement), the maqasid (goals and objectives), legal maxims, and ijtihad (independent reasoning) take the discussion a step further, and the approach here is not necessarily confined to introductory and descriptive treatment of the subject. From then onwards the discussion is taken to a more advanced level in its treatment of the Shariʻah and the principle of legality, Shariʻah and democracy, and the role and place of Shariʻah -oriented policy ( siyasah shari‘iyyah ) in our understanding of the Shariʻah.

Providing a comprehensive and accessible examination of Shari’ah Law, this well considered introduction examines the sources, characteristic features, and schools of thought of a system often stereotyped for its severity in the West. In a progressive and graduated fashion, Mohammad Hashim Kamali discusses topics ranging from juristic disagreement to independent reasoning. Also broaching more advanced topics such as the principle of legality and the role and place of Shari’ah-oriented policy, Kamali controversially questions whether Islam is as much of a law-based religion as it has often been made out to be. Complete with a bibliography and glossary, and both a general index and an index of Arabic quotations, this wide-ranging exploration will prove an indispensable resource for Islamic students and scholars, and an informative guide to a complex topic for the general reader.

About the Author

Mohammad Hashim Kamali is Founding CEO of the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS) Malaysia. He was Professor of Islamic Law and Jurisprudence at the International Islamic University, Malaysia, and then Dean of the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Jordan; Institute of Advanced Study Berlin, and Afghanistan’s Academy of Sciences.